Monica watched her class with minimal interest. The vodka shots might not have been such a grand idea last night. She had forgotten what it was like coming to school with a hangover. Her and Chandler had spent most of the night talking, sharing sob stories, and doing shot after shot of vodka. Both trying to forget.
Kip, Ross, and Phoebe had left soon after Chandler rejoined them. Claiming that they all had jobs to attend in the morning. For Ross and Phoebe this was true, but Kip, well she knew better. He had been acting so strangely the entire night, for the man that used to love to talk up a storm and be the center of attention, he was so quiet last night. Maybe he was just tired, or upset about something. Hell, she was probably just imaging the whole thing. She had tendencies to do so, especially after a night of heavy drinking.
"Ms. Geller?" One of the sophomore girls came up to her, looking at her closely.
She tired to put on her most convincing smile she could mange, hoping her eyes weren't so bloodshot anymore. "Yes, Sarah?"
She pointed to the doorway, "he's been there for like fifteen minutes, calling out your name." She said with a minor hint of disgust.
Monica's eyes followed her arm, over to the very last person she wanted to see. It was Richard. He stood with a bouquet of pink flowers, looking rather distressed. "Richard!" Monica yelled out, much the surprise of her class.
"Monica, I'm, I'm,"
She jumped out of her chair, "just keep working on those ingredients, class!" She yelled as she ran over to him, grabbing his arm as harshly as she could mange. "Talk to me outside." She mumbled, pulling him outside of her classroom and closing the door quietly behind him.
"Mon, I'm so sorry, Mon, I dumped Kathy this morning because I realized how much of an idiot I am for ever letting you go!" He whispered to her, his eyes looking down on her lovingly. "Here, I know their your favorites," he handed her the bouquet of flowers, "and I came to say this one thing, so just hear me out, okay?"
Monica glared at him, "what the hell are you doing here, Richard?"
"Don't do this, Mon, I love you! That's what I came here to tell you, I'm head over heels in love with you!"
"Shut the fuck up, Richard! Don't you care even for one second about the fact that you cheated on me! I can't trust you! How the hell do I know that you're not lying to me right now!" She yelled, her anger boiling over from the other day.
"You've got a hangover Mon, you don't know what your saying," he tired to reason with her.
"No, you're the one who has the problem, Richard!" She yelled out, tears brimming on her eyes, "you don't listen to a word I say."
"Yes, I do!"
"No, you don't Richard. Because, if you did, you'd understand that right now, I hate your guts. I couldn't think lower of a person if I tired."
"But,"
"Leave me alone," she said bitterly glaring at him with such a pure hate.
"Just give me a second chance!"
Monica shook her head, still trying to keep her tears from falling. It had been so simple before. She thought she was in love with such a wonderful man. "Goodbye, Richard," she mumbled, walking back into her classroom, the flowers down at her side.
"Monica! Wait! Please! I love you!"
She slammed the door on him, not wanting to hear another word. She class stared in shock at her, apparently they had heard either part or all of the conversation. She sighed heavily, wiping away a couple of tears from her eyes, and walked back towards her desk. Making sure to deposit the flowers straight into the trashcan.
"So, how is everything going?" She forced a smile, trying to act like everything was okay. Her class looked back at her in shock and disbelief. "Alright then, let's continue on with our lesson."
Rachel walked into the dark classroom, seeing Monica's figure sitting alone in the darkness from the hallway. She walked over to her friend, kneeling down besides her and putting a hand on her arm.
"Mon, you don't have to pretend you're okay. That was a bad breakup, you have the right to be upset," she cooed, rubbing her hand on Monica's arm.
"I thought he was the one," Monica said almost emotionlessly, "I thought he was so perfect, and that I was so lucky to have him."
"Come on, Mon, don't do this to yourself. You'll find someone," Rachel offered a smile, trying to cheer up her friend. "Who knows? Maybe you've already found him."
"And how could that be? If I had already found the perfect guy for me, wouldn't you think that we would have been dating by now!"
"Not if something got in the way," she smiled, "like Richard. And maybe now, you'll see him differently."
"And who would this mystery guy be? Kip? I don't think so."
"What about Chandler?"
Monica looked over at Rachel, not sure if she understood what her friend was saying to her. "What? Chandler?"
"Yeah, I saw the way you lit up last night talking with him. You guys act like you've known each other forever, when you just met. If that doesn't spell out love, I don't know what does."
"But, he's just a friend. And besides, he's the acting guardian of one of my students. Isn't there some rule against it somewhere?"
"Now you're just sounding stupid."
"Well you're saying I'm in love with Chandler, let's think this through, shall we?"
"And what's wrong with him? You flirted with him the first time you met him, you defended him and asked him to stay even in front of your boyfriend, you went to his apartment when you were depressed, and you had him stay in your apartment last night!" She paused for a moment, "which, by the way, what happened to all of our tequila?"
Monica smiled, remembering the night before. "We had our first official meeting of the IHR club."
Rachel shook her head, "and you didn't invite me?"
"Sorry, you were asleep."
"No wonder you were so pissed off this morning, I thought it was just because of, well, you know, but in reality you had a hangover!"
"Oh, shut up. I can't take another aspirin for another couple of hours," she mumbled.
Rachel sighed, "well, I guess it's official. You're in love with Chandler."
"And how did we reach this conclusion?"
"All the signs are there!"
"And these signs are?"
"Don't make me list them off again!"
Monica smiled, turning her head away from Rachel, her eyes becoming glassy again. "You wanna know something funny?"
"Always," Rachel smiled confidently.
"I think I just might over take you and Ross in the gossip mills," she smiled faintly, "that's got to be a first in what, four, five years? Anyone else being talked about more by their students then the infamous Mr. Geller and Ms. Green. Lobsters at heart."
"Ha, ha, ha, very funny. Talking to Phoebe again aren't we?"
"Well, I found it thoroughly amusing."
"Me and Ross are not lobsters. We are human beings. And Ross is stupid."
"Ah, the sounds of love," she teased, "shall I list off the reasons your in love with my brother? Or will we just let you come to your own conclusion?"
"Hilarious, Geller. Real funny."
Monica wiped her eyes, and took another deep breath. "Thanks, Rach," she finally made out, forcing a small smile on her face, "I needed that."
Rachel smiled faintly, and pulled Monica into a tight hug for lack of words to say. All she could come up with was, "You're going to be okay, Mon, you're gonna be fine."
Landon sat outside the school with a couple of his friends, once again waiting for Chandler to come and pick him up. He was late again. They all sat around in the corner that was out of sight enough to indulge in activities otherwise then the ones recommended by the school, but with a good enough view to see the entire front of the school.
"You sure you don't want a ride, man?" Jake, his best friend, asked. He was a year older then Landon, and the current school heartthrob and rebel decked out from head to toe in Hot Topic apparel.
"Nah, Chandler's really getting annoyed at that, and if I'm gonna get him to let me got to that party this weekend, I'm sure as hell gonna need him to be in a good mood."
"Your brother sounds like a real stickler for the rules," Rose snorted, taking another drag of her cigarette. She was in Jake's grade, and his long time girlfriend. They were really made for each other, both stood out without even trying. Even if she didn't have pink hair, she would have stood out without even lifting so much as a finger.
"Hey, put that out before he sees!" Landon yelled at her, knowing very well his brother's views on smoking. Or, really him smoking.
She rolled her eyes, took one last drag before pushing the butt into the ground next to her. "You so owe me, man."
"Whatever, I just wanna go to that party," he argued.
"You better," Josie threatened, narrowing her eyes at him. She was in his grade, infamous for drinking twice her body weight at any given opportunity. She had short reddish, brownish hair curled upwards messily, and was one of the hottest girls in his grade. Especially looked for when she drank.
"Why, cause you need a buddy to get drunk with?"
"You better believe it, last time I was stuck playing some drinking game with that exchange student from France or whatever."
He rolled his eyes, "you just bring the Jell-O and I'm there." Jell-O shots were the only way to get drunk at parties, they made for so many fun drinking games you wouldn't believe it.
"You guys are weird," Rose commented.
"Whatever, Landon, dude, tell us more about how Ms. Geller was at your guys' apartment last night," Jake returned to the previous conversation.
"It was nothing, she just ate some ice cream with Chandler or something. I really don't know what happened, I was stuck in my room with Joey."
"Oh! Ms. Geller got dumped!" Josie laughed at her teacher's misfortune.
"And how do you know that?" Jake asked, looking at her like she had just said the stupidest thing in the world.
"Duh, they were eating ice cream. You only eat ice cream like that when you break up with someone," Rose explained, "do you guys not know girls at all?"
"Whatever," Jake rolled his eyes, "so she's like friends with your brother or something?"
"I donno, but she was over for like twenty minutes, then they both left to go and walk her home or something."
"When did he get back?" Rose asked, suddenly intrigued.
"The next morning, he looked like he had a huge hangover, said something to Joey about tequila."
The three burst out into laughter, saying things like "Chandler got laid!" and "Chandler's the man!". Landon chose to ignore these comments, seeing as how he really did not want to imagine his brother having sex with anyone.
"Whatever," Landon mumbled, "let's move on. So Mr. Geller and Ms. Green had another big blowout again?" He asked Rose, who had apparently heard a lot of the argument.
"Yeah, it was great," she laughed, "apparently Mr. Geller gets around," she winked at them, a new round a giggles escaping everyone's lips.
"I still don't see it," Jake laughed, "Mr. Geller isn't exactly the coolest guy in the world. I mean, he's kinda a geek, y'know?"
"Apparently Chandler knows him too," Landon mumbled, "they were roommates in college or something, I heard him talking about it with Joey."
"Oh wait, aren't Mr. Geller and Ms. Geller siblings or something?" Josie asked, finding sudden amusement in this.
"Yeah, so?"
"Oh my God, this is just too funny!" She blurted, "falling for your best friend's little sister, that's priceless! I can't wait to see their blowout!"
"I don't think they're exactly best friends or anything," he mumbled, "they've just gotten back in contact. He went and hung out over at his friend's place or something."
"Whatever, dude, it's still funny," Jake laughed, "I still can't believe your brother is crushing on Ms. Geller, the hottest teacher to hit this school since Ms. Green!"
Landon rolled his eyes, "whatever, man." He looked over his shoulder, noticing that Chandler's car had pulled up in front of the school. "I gotta run, Chandler's here."
"Well give him a minute! He probably wants to go and make kissy, kissy with Ms. Geller!" Rose teased, puckering her lips and making kissing noises.
"Whatever, I'm out," Landon pushed himself off the ground, grabbed his bag, and sauntered over to Chandler's car as slowly as humanly possible. He opened the door and chucked his bag in the back seat, "you're late again, man."
"Sorry, got caught up at work," Chandler sighed, "Gunther had some sort of coffee crisis or something. I had to stay longer to cover for him. For what it matters, I think he was just getting his hair done again."
He shrugged, "whatever," he mumbled, still trying to figure out how he was going to drop the whole going to the party thing on his brother. He wasn't exactly the let's support underage drinking kind. Not that many people were, but just the select few.
"So, I'm going to be out again tonight, I'm catching a movie with Monica, Ross, and maybe Joey. So that means you're on your own for dinner. You could order something, or you might, if the mood struck you, try cooking something."
"I know, I know, because cash is tight, cash is tight," he mumbled, grabbing out his headphones again from his bag behind him.
"No, actually, the job hunt is looking better, I think," Chandler lied. He was doing no better then before, but his brother didn't need to know that. He also didn't need to know that if cash ran out, there was no crying home to mommy or daddy, tail in between his legs.
"Whatever, man, look, I needed to ask you something," Landon decided to was now or never. Seeing as how Chandler seemed a little happier then usual, he decided that now was a perfectly good time.
"Shoot."
"There's this party this weekend, over at Rose's," he lied, it was actually being hosted by a bunch of seniors she knew. "Alright if I go?"
"Rose, isn't she the pink haired girl?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Nothing," Chandler mumbled, trying not to insult his brother's friend. It just seemed that people who dyed their hair strange colors, usually weren't too big of fans on rules.
"So, can I go?"
"Are her parents gonna be there?"
"What am I, five?"
"Landon," he said sternly.
"Yeah, her parents will be there," he lied again. He was pretty sure that no parent or responsible adult would be in attendance at the party. More like drunk college girls.
"Alright, but if you aren't home by midnight, I'm calling the cops. And you better be sober. If you're drunk and/or high, I will know. Unlike any normal parenting situation, I have extensive background in the whole identifying drunk people department which is not rusty."
"Dude, you're taking this whole big brother thing way to seriously."
"Dude, I'm all you got." Chandler said a little bit more harshly then he had intended. His hangover was still lingering a little; work had been hell that morning. No one ever respected a hangover in the workplace, apparently it was irresponsible to consume that amount of alcohol when you had to go into work first thing in the morning and he should learn to deal with the consequences or whatever.
"No, bro, unlike you, Mom and Dad still like me." Landon shot back at his brother, putting on his headphones and blasting the music before Chandler could come up with anything to say back at him.
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